Light up my Life
by WhimsicalHeart
Summary: Typical what if story, what if Luffy and Ace had a little sister. Stories from their childhood and maybe later on.
1. Arrival

**A/N: **One Piece is one of my favourite mangas and I absolutely adore Ace and Luffy but I always wondered about their moms and Garp's wife so I was really happy when Oda-sensei told us a bit about Ace's mom. This is my story about a female D. (because really they don't have enough) she is not supposed to be a Mary Sue, if you think she is starting to become one warn me and tell me where and I will change things accordingly. Give her a chapter or two before you jump to conclusions. Her name is Michiru, Aibhilin is pronounced ave-leen. Sorry if Garp is a little out of character please rate and review. I don't really like this chapter but it gets better further in, I promise. I don't know what Dadan is like so I've taken a few liberties so far as he is concerned.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned one piece wouldn't be an OC would she? Moreover, would I be writing here? No probably not, I'd be too busy trying to get the next One Piece chapter ready.

**1. Arrival**

Garp stood in a secluded bay at the back of Fushia island, eyes open for a ship. He'd left Ace and Luffy in the woods to train while he waited, telling them he'd gone to pick up their sister. They had gotten a bit tired of hearing this seeing as he'd been coming here for the past week. He'd been shocked when he heard from a man he believed to be long dead. The letter had shocked him more:

_Garp. No matter what happens please, take care of my daughter. She will arrive in 2 months, she is a D. Please give her your name and let her lineage be lost, when she is older tell her she was one Aibhilin._

Aibhilin, a longed for child. So that hadn't changed, he'd always said that the name of his first-born would be Aibhilin, he'd never allowed for the fact that he may have had a son. Typical, then again Garp wouldn't have been surprised if the crazy old duffer had given a boy a girl's name. Lucky he'd had a daughter. What worried him was that he had been one of the strongest men Garp knew, and Garp could never see him letting his child go. Not unless it was life or death. Death for his daughter would mean that that man had to die first. Now he would have to name the child. He wondered how old she was, young enough that she would not know her own name. He sighed, was there something about him that screamed 'let me take care of your children'?

Sharp eyes, trained by years at sea, saw the tip of a mast bobbing above the trees. He straightened himself out and stretched, time to go. He walked towards the mast, wondering why they seemed to have stopped. It was a bad place, open to the sea and any who sailed on it. He'd waited in the bay because trees masked what happened there. As he walked on to the shore his heart froze, before him the ship was beached but he did not see a living man on the deck. The sails were in tatters. He ran, hoping all the way.

The deck was destroyed, blade marks covered the mast and deck. It was a tiny ship and most, if not all, of its crew lay on the deck. All dead, the only mark on their bodies was a sword wound on their torso. After examining the deck, he proceeded into the ship's interior. He was on his guard, ready to attack with less than a second's warnings. They hadn't died to long ago, an hour at most. It looked like someone had been searching for something. Chairs, tables and chests lay up turned. Debris scattered on the floor. Something crunched under his foot, he didn't look down. He pushed open an open door, into what he assumed was that captain's room. The ship's log lay open on the desk; he walked over and slid it into his pocket, hoping it would reveal something. He looked everywhere in the room, checking the broken cupboard and desk. Nothing. Before he knew what he was doing he looked under the bed, looking after children formed habits. Looking under the bed for something was one of them. He almost laughed at himself, until the light of the setting sun caught on polished metal. His brain went in to over drive. The captain's bed was unusual, for the most part it was solid wood under a ship's bed. The bedding did a good job of hiding it, you wouldn't know it was there unless you looked. Someone searching could easily miss the trapdoor hidden under the bed. His hands gripped the ring and he pulled up, hard. He heard the sound of a lock breaking free of the wood that held it in place. Below him was a small, well-furnished room. An untouched room. He jumped, landing softly on his feet. This was the cabin of a young girl. There were no portals to the outside world but pictures of fields and the ocean decorated the walls. Aside from the pictures the room was quite modestly decorated. There was a wash stand, two sea trunks and a bed. On the bed was a little girl. She didn't seem overly bothered by him, she stared at him and he stared back. He tried to figure ou how to approach her without scaring her. She was paler than anyone else he'd seen in his life. A by-product, he thought, of life in a cabin with no windows. She was also the tiniest thing he'd seen in his life. She looked like a little porcelain doll. Black curls framed a heart shaped face and she had eyelashes for which many women would kill. Long, dark, she could have been wearing mascara. It was they eyes that they framed that took his breathe away. He'd never seen eyes that colour, the blue green colour of an unpolluted sea on a hot summer's day. The only colour in her pale face. She looked to be four or five years old. What would she think of a stranger in her isolated room? Her face was as impassive as her father's, impossible to read. He wondered who her mother had been; she must have been an amazing woman to catch the eyes of that man. The child in front of him didn't look much like her father, except for the hair. He'd had the same messy, dark hair, not unlike Luffy of Ace's. she must have gotten bored, waiting for him to say something.

"Who are you? Did Mr Smith send you down? Is it about all the banging earlier? "

Garp couldn't place her accent. It sounded like a combination of many different cultures.

"No, no he didn't, there was a little bit of trouble on deck, I'm here to take care of you. I'm your grandpa, my name's Garp. What's yours?"

He stood with his arms in front of him, palms facing upwards, trying to show the little child that he meant no harm. On hearing his name, her face lit up. She jumped off the bed and ran to him. She tripped and steadied herself on one of his outstretched hands, grinning up at him. She must definitely be more like her mother, he thought absent mindedly, remembering her father, a big beefy man who used to have to duck to go through a door. He tried to reconcile the image with this petite creature and failed horribly. She had his nose too, that straight strong D nose.

"Oh I'm so glad you came, Mr Smith has been telling me all about you. He said you were gonna look after me because daddy couldn't anymore. Dunno my name, everyone just calls me girl but I'm seven" she provided heavily.

Seven? There was no way, he'd seen three year olds bigger than she was, he'd have to feed her up a little when he got back. How was it possible that she didn't know her own name at seven?

"How long have you been away from home my dear?"

She looked thoughtful; eventually she seemed to make up her mind.

"Dunno but it was my present for my three birthday but we went round on horsies then."

Four years? That couldn't be, the letter had reached him little more that two months ago. He clutched the ship's log through his pants. There had to be something in there. Gently he hoisted the little girl onto his shoulder. He lifted her trunks in the other hand.

"From now on you'll be Monkey D. Michiru. Let's get you home."

Michiru for her eyes, it meant Ocean. He didn't bother with the trap door; instead, he opted to make a hole in the wall. It took him two more walls but soon he was outside and heading home with a new grandchild.

As soon as the ship was out of sight, he put her down to walk. She had to run to keep up with him but that didn't stop her talking. Garp chuckled, he'd always thought Luffy could talk a lot but this girl was something else. She was drinking in the sights, smells and sounds around her. He wasn't surprised this world must seem amazing to a child that had lived her life in a sealed room. The boys ran out of the house as they got close. Michiru stopped, unsure.

"Hi, wow you're our sister right? How come you're so late, Grandpa's been looking for you since the weekend! I'm Monkey D. Luffy by the way and this is my big brother Ace! I'm going to be a pirate when I grow up."

"Insolent child, you're negatively influenced!" Garp punched his grandson's head. "I'm training you to be a marine!"

Michiru giggled. She ran round Garp to where Ace was helping Luffy up, laughing all the while.

"Hi I'm Monkey D. Michiru! Nice to meet you. I am seven"

Ace ruffled the small child's hair.

"I'm Portgas D. Ace, I'm eleven and Luffy is eight, come on, I'll show you your room you're not scared to sleep alone right?"

Her chin went straight up into the air, fire lighting in her eyes.

"I'm not!"

"Bwahahahahahahaha"

"Grandpa!"

A middle age man with wavy brown hair and brown eyes alighted from the house. Garp quickly caught Michiru's shoulder.

"This is Dadan Michiru, he'll be looking after when I'm not here."

She looked up at Dadan and suddenly she was silent. She raised her hand and waved her hand at him, she wore the same look on her face that people who suddenly run into a stray, and rabid looking dog wore.

"Which criminal's child are you bringing me now, Garp?" Dadan demanded. "I'm going to start visiting people you know who are expecting people, make sure they know that I raise your grandchildren and then scare them half to death!"

"Don't worry about it Dadan, I'm sure she'll behave herself, won't you little one?"

Michiru nodded her consent, she certainly would behave herself round Dadan, what Garp didn't know is that while it might take her longer to misbehave than her brothers when she did it would be cataclysmic.


	2. Knots

**A/N: **okay chapter two, as promised this is much more interesting than the first chapter, which I am starting to think of as a prologue. Sorry if there is any OOCness but I just can't seem to get everyone perfect. Please rate and review tell me what you think, it' always interesting to here. What happens to the kids comes from chapter 432 where Garp says: "I pushed you over bottomless cliffs, threw you into the jungle at night, tied you on a balloon and sent you flying in the sky…" quick run down of terms I am likely to use in this story (as in through out the story not just this chapter):

Imoutou- little sister

Otoutou- little brother

Nii-san- big brother

Jiji-old man (sort of like gramps I think)

**Disclaimer:** I own my OC and nothing else, unfortunately.

**2. Knots**

Michiru looked around her room, it was smaller than her cabin on the ship but it looked much nicer, friendlier almost. Grandpa had gone down to say goodbye the people on the boat, he said they needed to go now but they'd want to know she was safe. Ace and Luffy were helping her unpack. Michiru, Michiru, Michiru, she couldn't stop thinking her name; it was so nice to have one. She looked at Ace and Luffy shyly. Luffy was messing about on her bed, jumping up and down, while Ace arranged some of the things from her trunk on her desk. The pretty, silver box with all her hair ties, ribbons and hairbrush, her storybooks and a few of her dolls. Something caught her from behind and she was pulled on to the bed next to Luffy.

"Hey. Come. Jump. With. Me" he said as he bounced up and down, each word punctuated with the sound of his feet landing on the bed.

Michiru giggled some more and stood up, trying to imitate her big brother. She jumped up and down, trying, and failing, to go higher than Luffy. Soon the third child joined them and the bed complained under their weight. When Luffy bumped Ace while jumping the game deteriorated into a fight. Michiru sat on the side, laughing and clapping. Luffy lost and they both bowed to her, wicked grins on their faces.

"Now come and help Luffy, it's not nice of you to leave our baby sister to do all the hard work."

They all turned to her clothes trunk. Giggling and out of breath they opened it. On top were her sun hats. She had two, one floppy material and the second made of straw. The straw one was her favourite, it had a white ribbon circling it and a white rose pinned on the front. She had never really seen the point of a hat but seeing as Luffy was wearing one she decided to do the same. She jammed it on her head and spun to face her two, new brothers.

"Hey! You've got a hat too." Luffy shouted out in delight. "Where'd you get yours?"

"Luffy got his from a pirate, Red-haired Shanks. He saved Luffy's life." Ace explained with just a hint of pride.

Michiru's jaw dropped. "You've met a real, live pirate!"

Luffy swelled with pride. "Yeah I have, he was really cool and he saved me from a bandit and a sea king. He's the strongest man ever, but when I grow up I'm going to be ten times stronger and cooler than Shanks, then I'll give him his hat back."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to be the Pirate King, like Ace's dad."

More amazed than ever Michiru spun to face Ace. He looked rather sheepish.

"I don't know what he was like or anything, that's why I use my mom's name, I don't really care about my dad. It's kind of a secret so you need to promise not to tell anyone." he said seriously.

She furiously nodded her consent, wishing her parents had been that cool. Luffy pulled on her hands.

"Wow, check these out Ace!" he cried pointing at her Celtic knots. Ace leant over her hands. She had two tattoos, one round her right wrist and the other on her left hand. The one on the back was contained in a circle. The knot was woven so that it had a cross shape, each edge with two loops. In the surrounding circle, above the points of the cross was a word: grá, creideamh, tá dóchasm agam ,neart . (Love, faith, hope, strength). The second one that wound round her wrist was a little thick. Mr Smith said it would look thinner when she was older. The knots were both circular and diamond shaped. It was done in black, Mr. Smith had said that it was a rarity. Her hand knot was done in many colours. The cross and writing was black but the ring went from blue to green to yellow to orange to red to pink to purple then back to blue. Mr Smith had done it for her on her seventh birthday. It'd hurt to get them but now she held out her hands proudly.

"Pity we don't have a brighter lamp, then we could see them properly" Ace commented.

"I can do that." Michiru said with complete confidence.

She wrinkled her nose as if she was thinking and suddenly an orb of light blossomed from her palm. It hovered above the tattoos emitting a pale, white light.

"How do you do that?!" cried and amazed Luffy.

"You've eaten a devil fruit right?" Ace was quicker on the uptake.

She nodded her head, grinning with pleasure. "The kira-kira no mi, or something like that, I don't really remember it was when I was four, a birthday gift from Mr Smith."

"Luffy's eaten one too" Ace said with a grin, pulling on his brother's cheek to illustrate the fact.

"You stretch!"

Michiru looked around her, more specifically below her. She was hanging on to Luffy's leg for dear life. She watched her flip-flop slip from her foot and fall down what seemed like an endless drop. Ace was in Garp's other hand. He hung them out over the edge of a cliff; the walk up hadn't really seemed that bad, a gentle incline, not too far and then the road had just ended in a shear drop. Luffy had given her a piggy back to the top of the mountain and so when Garp had picked him up Michiru had gone with him. Ace and Luffy struggled against the hands that were holding them.

"I've been easy on you boys because your sister had to adapt to life but after a month none of you have any excuses. Your training will continue so that you can become powerful marines! You know what times meals are so if you want to eat don't get back late! If your sister has so much as a scratch on her you two will be in more trouble then when Luffy fed my very important paper's to the wildlife!"

With that, he released his hold on the brothers. Michiru was already quite far down, Luffy's leg had been gradually lengthening but Ace plummeted past her with a look of complete exasperation on his face. She jerked down with a jolt then stopped. She looked up to see that Luffy did not intend to let go of Grandpa. Grandpa however had other ideas, it was not long before Luffy and Michiru followed Ace to the base of the cliff. Trees broke her fall and they landed at the base of a waterfall. Michiru didn't know whether to cry or not. The turbulent water had broken their fall but she still couldn't swim. Strong arms pulled her out and soon she was sitting on Ace's hip. He and Luffy could stand but the water came to Luffy's chin. They both looked at her to check if she was ok and once they established that she was they wadded to the shore.

"Silly old man." Luffy complained, while Ace sat her down on the shore.

"He's gone easy on us this time Luffy; I think he's worried about Michi-chan"

Michiru was still the same fragile looking child she'd been when Garp found her. Large sea blue eyes dominated her pale face. Her lips and cheeks had some colour and she didn't look like she had never seen the sun anymore but she still looked like the wind could blow her over. People rarely believed she was as old as seven, most thought she couldn't be older than five. She glared at her brothers.

"I can cope just as well as you can Acie!"

He and Luffy just laughed at her.

"Ace shall we try climbing? It can't be too difficult."

"For us, imoutou" Luffy stuck his tongue out at his little sister, dodging her tiny fists. He took off down the beach his little sister right on his heels. She overtook him twenty meters into the make shift race, easily pulling ahead.

"Michi! Come back here, Luffy you stay there and I'll come to you."

Ace marvelled at the little girl's speed. Grandpa had long since stopped trying to teach her to be strong but he boasted in the village that no one could run faster than his little granddaughter could. He also said it wasn't like she had a lot of weight to carry with her, in truth she didn't. Ace could easily hold the little girl in the air away from his body with one hand.

"I have an idea, how about we walk round the beach and find a different way up."

He gave Luffy a meaningful glance but it was lost on his little brother. Not that he needed to worry. The only person Luffy was capable of being, something that vaguely resembled, responsible around was Michiru. They were both very protective of their little sister, to the point that Luffy had gotten into trouble at the village for hitting one of the other children who said that Michiru's eyes were odd. She hated being treated as if she was weak but wouldn't question what her brothers said unless a pointed comment was made about helping her. He sighed and looked up at the cliff. If it were he and Luffy alone they could be at the cliff in a matter of minutes with Luffy's Gomu gomu no rocket but both he and Luffy were resilient. He wondered if that was why Granddad had dropped them near nightfall or if he meant for them to walk home through the forest at night. Probably the later, knowing Grandpa.

"I'm hungry Ace."

"Well we would be home now if you hadn't sworn blind that you knew a short cut and I hadn't been fool enough to follow you off the road."

In all fairness Ace had been distracted, otherwise he never would have considered relying on Luffy's sense of direction. He'd been trying to sort out something for Michiru's feet. She hadn't learnt to wear shoes she could keep on her feet yet and so she was getting her feet quite badly bruised. She was the only person the boys knew who bruised in a matter of minutes, especially from the lightest of pressure. Eventually they'd put her on Luffy's back and continued on Luffy's short cut.

"I want meat."

"You'll have to wait for breakfast, we've missed dinner."

Minutes passed in silence, broken only by the passage of the children through the forest. Punctuated by the occasional sound of Luffy's stomach rumbling. Ace chuckled silently thinking that the sound of Luffy's empty stomach would keep many wild animals far away from them. The first time Michiru had heard the sound was a week after she'd arrived. Luffy had eaten a little early and his stomach had started grumbling in his sleep. Seconds later Ace had felt a little body climb into his bed and cuddle up next to him. An urgent whisper had followed. She had asked in all earnestness if wild animals like the one that was growling could get into the house and if they would eat her.

"Ace, Ace look! I found dinner."

Ace turned to look and froze, caught in Luffy's hands was a four-foot long snake, arguably the most venomous one on the island. It looked annoyed.

"Luffy, I want you to hold that thing just behind its head and then stretch it as far away as possible."

Too late, Michiru was reaching out to touch it. The snake made what was probably the biggest mistake of its life. It tried to bite her. Five minutes later Ace and Luffy finished with it. It slithered away from them; its body had more bends in it than the plumbing system back at their little house.

Midnight found them sitting up a tree, a bandit who had recognised, and evidently not liked, Luffy had run into them. Luffy had pulled them all up to safety after he'd lost sight of them but now they sat waiting in a tree for the man to go away. He was following one of Michiru's light balls that she had sent in the opposite direction to the way they wanted to go. Once they were sure that they were safe, they hopped down from the tree and continued on their way. It was getting late and it was awhile before a sleepy Michiru created another light for them to see by.

Near midnight, they found another tree. Luffy pulled them all to the top. Ace was carrying some fruit that he'd found and determined was edible. It was getting too late for Michiru, her light flickering from brightness to so dim that they could just make out the shapes of the trees. They all sat and ate at the top of the tree, before they fell asleep. Ace used Luffy's arms to tie them to the tree so that they didn't fall out in their sleep. Using a sailor's knot that he'd recently learnt.

The next morning they found that they could see the whole forest from the top of their tree. In the dim light Luffy had unwittingly chosen what was, arguably, the highest tree in the forest. Ace hit him round the head then hugged him.

"You wanted to make sure we'd be dead if we fell didn't you? But at least we can see the way back now."

A problem none of them had expected, including Michiru, was that she was scared of heights. Persuading her to let go of the tree trunk had been the first hurdle, getting her on to Luffy's back was the second, the third was trying to repair Luffy and Ace's eardrums after they found out that she had a good set of lungs on her.

At one twenty, much to Luffy's delight, the three of them arrived home. Michiru hadn't been aware that so much mud existed never mind that is could fit on her tiny frame. She brushed it out of her eyes and looked up into her Grandpa.

"You took a long time. Lunch is in five minutes I expect you all to be washed by then and don't forget we finish at 2!" he shouted after the three mud balls running behind the house. Michiru wasn't quite sure why Ace wanted to go to the back garden seeing as the bathroom was closer to the front door but she followed him none the less. Luffy was more vocal about it then she was.

"Ace I don't want to miss lunch! We've already missed breakfast and dinner, I will die of starvation if you make me skip another meal," the eight year old declared.

Ace ignored his little brother and attached the hosepipe to the tap. Luffy wasn't paying to much attention to what Ace was doing, so the water hit him square in the face, with his mouth open. Ace turned the hose on her once he'd got the worst of the mud off of Luffy.

"Go get a bath running Luffy! Michi will get our clothes once I'm done with her."

Luffy bolted for the house and Ace continued to spray Michiru. She actually had very little mud on her compared to Ace and Luffy and once Ace was finished, a change of clothes would make her presentable. Her fingers brushed through her hair, cleaning the mud from it. When Ace pointed it at himself she turned and ran into the house grabbing Ace and Luffy's clothes on the way. Once in the bathroom she grabbed her own towel and raced back to her room. Seconds later Ace was in the bathroom. She dried herself and wrapped her hair in her towel. She grabbed the first thing her hands came into contact with, incidentally one of the dresses that had come with her on the ship. She hadn't worn anything as impractical in the two months since her arrival. It was over her head before her mind registered exactly what she was putting on. The towel came out as the dress came on. Belatedly she realised she couldn't do the buttons at the back of her dress. She hastily tied the sash round her waist into a bow, slid on a pair of sandals and ran to find the boys. They all ran to the kitchen together, after the two minutes it took Ace to do up her buttons and for Luffy to explain that this was still part of the training.

"You see Grandpa wants Ace and I to become marines, not that that'll ever happen because I am definitely going to become a pirate, but he says that marines have to be able to go from a fight to ready for a meeting in seconds."

She nodded her understanding and seventeen seconds later, they stood in front of grandpa with eleven seconds to spare.

She tried to imitate the boys, she knew that they were out of breath but they both breathed calmly and rhythmically. She tried with partial success. Grandpa and Dadan stared at them and eventually Grandpa smiled and stepped aside. He'd bought lunch from the local pub; it smelt better than any other food she'd seen in the past year.  
"I'm very proud of you kids, you even got Michiru into one of her smart dresses."

She and Luffy ran forward to the foods, with quick 'thank-you's. Ace gripped both of their arms, Michiru came to a sudden stop while Luffy just carried going. Half way to the table, he broke a thin thread that released a massive block of something. Ace pulled back hard. Luffy followed the pull on his arms and landed beside his siblings. The box had been sufficiently heavy to break the floorboards.

"LUFFY! How many times do I need to tell you that you need to think about assassins! Think before you go for the food. Think of a safe way to reach the-"

He stopped dead in the middle of his sentence and looked from the table to Luffy, from the table to Luffy, or probably more accurately from the table to a majority of the meal disappearing down Luffy's gullet. In typical Luffy style, he fell asleep¸ Michiru was shocked to see that his hands still tried to get food near his face, it didn't quite reach his mouth but still.

"Luffy doesn't like to miss meals and with Grandpa's training you need to be able to sleep, walk and eat simultaneously, Luffy hasn't quite mastered eating yet but he's getting there. Get ready to move."

"You cannot escape my fist of love doudouhead" Grandpa yelled on top of his lungs.

Ace went left, still gripping her arm and Luffy travelled through the wall. The brawl continued outside with odd periods of quiet when both Grandpa and Luffy fell asleep. She and Ace took advantage of Grandpa's distraction and ate lunch.

"You seem happy."

"Just glad that things have gone back to normal nii-san."

**A/N:** this chapter is a little longer than planned so I'm putting the balloons in the next chapter. I know that kira-kira is probably not the best name kira-kira means shiny-shiny. For the minute all she can do is generate bright, shiny balls of light and play with light waves a little. I adore terms like boro-boro and sara-sara and kira-kira so when I thought up her fruit I couldn't help but use kira-kira. If anyone is interested in seeing what Michiru's tattoos look like gimme a shout and I'll find appropriate pictures and give you links in the next chapter. Yes, I know she gets odd birthday gifts, it'll continue, it's kind of how any big change was explained to her, so they didn't necessarily happen on her birthday.


	3. Flight

**A/N: **this takes place a year and a bit after the last chapter so by now Michiru is pretty much used to Garp and the boys. Usual request please rate and review, no flames, I'll use them to teach Michiru how to cook. Garp is on one or his visits home, Dadan is taking a well deserved break (hey wouldn't you need one if you had to try keep Luffy in line?)

**Disclaimer:** I own my OC, by definition this should warn you that I own nothing else because an OC is an own/original character, right? If I owned One Piece she wouldn't be an OC, she'd be a canon character so no, I don't own one piece.

**3. Flight**

"Grandpa there is a very good reason why I have never tried to make food. I am capable of doing pasta and just about anything sweet other then that food is a no go zone." Michiru pleaded with her Grandpa.

"I'm sure you're not that bad my girl and Dadan is taking a break, Grandpa has to organise something so you see why I need you to cook. Ace and Luffy would destroy the kitchen, we won't expect a gourmet dinner, just something edible."

"You can't be worse than Grandpa is, his food is toxic, even Luffy won't touch it!"

"That is besides the point, my dear you've made cakes for all of our birthdays and nicer cakes I've never tasted in my life, I've given Ace some money, you three can go shopping for what you need." With that, Garp left, before someone suggested he help.

"Don't worry," Luffy said in an attempt to cheer his little sister up: " none of us are very good at cooking, I've failed cooking classes three years in a row. I passed just before you came."

"So why don't you cook then?"

"Because they only passed him because they didn't want him back. He has poisoned seven of the lecturers to date. Who knows maybe he'll get better when he's older."

Michiru sighed and went to check the pantry.

***

"Can I have two kilos of flour please and a dozen eggs."

"Little girl, don't you want to come back with your mommy?"

She gave the vendor a glare that would scare off a sea king. She held out her basket for her order. The vendor raised his eyebrows but still gave her the flour and eggs. She paid and stalked off to find Luffy and Ace. She heard a crash in the dairy and suddenly decided that she could live with vendors who didn't know the D.s asking her where her mommy was. Really, was there a point in wasting time waiting for the boys? She knew exactly what she needed, according to the recipe at any rate. On the way to the other side of the food market she spotted a man selling tools, she decided to purchase a few chisels, just in case.

***

She heard them before she saw them, it sounded like they'd got into another fight. Unlike most people, Michiru was more likely to worry if her brothers didn't fight than if they did. Predictably, Ace would win but that was besides the point, she could pick up the sounds and signs of a fight from a mile away. Right now, she was pretty sure that they were wrapping things up. When her brothers eventually found her she was very careful not to look at them until absolutely necessary, then again when Luffy was your brother that wasn't an awfully long time. Sooner or later, everybody looked at Luffy. When she did look up, she was tempted to hide. Ace was carrying a big churn of milk, but he looked…wet? As they got closer, she saw that Luffy was carrying butter and cheese and being followed by half the cats on the island. He was drenched in what smelt like milk. He had little bits of feathers, fur and dirt sticking to him and both were a little bruised and scuffed up. It looked like Luffy had got in a good hit, Ace's lip was swollen and covered in dry blood. The cats seemed delighted to have found a source of warm milk in the frigid weather. They were jumping up and down, trying to get all the milk off of Luffy. Michiru was happy she had finished her shopping in the interim, she probably wouldn't have gotten anything with those two. She waited for them to reach her before turning and walking to the path home. She wasn't going to ask, she probably didn't want to know. Provided they had the stuff for dinner and it wasn't eaten before they reached the cottage she would leave well enough alone unless they wanted to tell her.

"Luffy wanted to see if the no swimming limitation of the devil fruit extended to all things liquid, you know, like that massive bath of milk at the dairy."

"Oh… does it?"

Michiru peered at her brothers, trying to figure out if they were being serious.

"Dunno, I couldn't swim before I ate the fruit so that might be why I couldn't swim in the milk. Ace came in to get me out, but I could still stretch. Don't you think that it's a really good idea to use geese instead of guard dogs Ace?"

***

Now how did you do this? She had chased the boys out of the kitchen, not that they'd needed much persuasion, the milk on them was starting to freeze. She behaved better in the cold than she had last year. She'd been raised for the most part in an equatorial climate, cold had been a new experience. Much to her surprise, she found she enjoyed the cold once she got used to it. Grandpa said her home island had been one of the coldest places in the world, and always raining. She mixed the wet ingredients with the floor, kneading it. She carefully worked till she had smooth dough in front of her. The rhythmic action calmed her nerves and soon she was laughing at the silliness of Luffy. She didn't resent what he had done though, it was part of who he was. Silly, headstrong, impulsive Luffy, she had been so angry with him when she'd heard about the scar under his eye. She still didn't let him near knives but part of her had been proud of him, because he was brave and loyal. She was eternally grateful to the Redhead known as Shanks and one of the things she promised herself she would one day do was meet him and thank him. Her mind returned to the task at hand, as she began making something she was actually good at again. She figured she'd make some Crème Brule for desert, at least they could eat that. She went to set the table while the food cooked, praying for a miracle.

***

Ace ate cautiously. Much as he loved his sister, he had had too much experience with his family's cooking to trust her fully. She rarely exaggerated and if she was under the impression that her food wasn't too good, it might well not be. The pasta was quite nice; it was done in white sauce with three types of cheeses. Once he was sure she was focused on keeping Luffy away from the main dish of pasta he warily tried the food. After he established that it was, in fact edible, he quickly polished off the rest.

"You know, one day all the other little girls will be jealous of you," Grandpa Garp proclaimed loudly, Michi looked up at him with a certain degree of trepidation in her face. "And do you know why? Because you have inherited the D. genes, I mean look at that you can polish off nearly a kilogram of pasta, have room for more and not gain so much as an ounce."

Ace, Luffy and Michi all exchanged a confused glance, one that seemed to say, how is this strange? Luffy, Ace and Garp did the exact same thing and no one ever felt the need to comment on it. Ace shrugged it off and returned to his food. Without him even noticing it, the world faded to black.

When Ace woke, he found Luffy consuming the remainder of his pasta and no Michi. He quickly grappled with his brother for his food and soon won it back. This earned them both a punch with the fist of love. He was nursing his injured head when Michiru re-entered the room. She was carrying a pan and three pots balanced along her arms and she seemed to have something heavy in her pockets. She placed the pots and pan in the middle of the table and gave each of them a chisel.

"You can chip bits of the stew out of the pot. There is soup in the middle bowl and chicken in the one on the left. The stuff in the pan is fried beef."

The fact that she wasn't touching anything didn't escape Ace. He didn't know what she had done to the chicken but it looked about a third of the size it had been when he bought it. Evidentially she didn't know how to sow either, the chicken was held closed with nails. In all honesty, the beef looked like it had seen better days, much better days. The soup was the only thing that looked edible. He'd start with that. Luffy went straight for the meat…

***

The next day at breakfast Michiru presented her three male relatives with their Crème Brule. They ate it with some trepidation, having learnt the previous night that it Garp was definitely not the worst cook ever, his granddaughter beat him hands down, and that just because something _looked_ edible didn't mean that it was. Luffy and Grandpa assured her it was delicious, Luffy still needed to regrow most of his taste buds and so Michiru had ignored everything he said about the Crème Brule, she knew he was trying to make her feel better. She presented Garp with a hamper filled with sweet things, and sweet things alone. His ship had stopped on the little island for a day only and he had taken the opportunity to visit his grandchildren. Dadan would return to the house later that night. The children revelled in the idea of a day uninhibited by adults. They walked out of the house behind Grandpa like good little children, they'd never actually been allowed down to the pier to see him off. A bubble of apprehension rose in Michiru's stomach when she saw a balloon bigger than Grandpa secured by a thick rope to a tree. Had she eaten any of her own food she might have brushed it off as heartburn but Michiru got the feeling that it would be just her waiting at the house. The look on Ace's face confirmed the feeling. This was probably another one of Grandpa's harebrained schemes to turn Luffy and Ace into good marines. She was exempt from all training. Grandpa took personal insult to the idea of Michiru becoming a marine, or anything that involved her fighting. Her brothers did too, if she had one complaint it would be that Luffy, Ace and Grandpa didn't let her do enough things. Grandpa was debating sending her to learn how to become a doctor or a musician but that was all, to a certain degree he was trying to make sure she never learnt anything that might put her in a place where she could be attacked, or if she was, that Ace or Luffy wouldn't be far behind. She was unsurprised when her brothers were hoisted up by their wrists and tied to the massive balloon and only slightly when he released the balloon from its moorings. He swept her up into a massive hug before departing and Michiru raced after the shape of the balloon floating over the island.

***

Michiru raced through the little seaside village, oblivious to the shouts of the people round her. She leapt over a cart of produce and skirted round another. Her eyes never leaving the balloon. She moved at a speed that only she could manage. Her feet danced along the ground as she ran past the pub, heedless to Makino's cries. She cut diagonally across the village, displaying an amazing amount of agility she scaled walls, avoided people and ran. She disappeared into the forest followed by the hostile gazes of some of the homeowners. She didn't notice when well trodden roads and walls turned to dirt, grass and stones. She only noticed the trees long enough to shove their branches out of her way and when they began to obstruct her view. Annoyed she used her fruit powers to increase the diffraction of the light round the trees till she got the light to project on to the ground in front of her. She couldn't do it too frequently because it required near constant changing as she ran, so she checked the balloon every thirty or so seconds. She was distressed to see that it was running from her, getting further and further, smaller and smaller. When the wind suddenly changed direction, she tried to cut it off turning into pathless forest. She steadily came closer and closer to the balloon. Luffy and Ace seemed to be fighting about something. They struggled hundreds of feet above the ground. Eventually Luffy stretched down and caught something that was probably bolted to the floor, or had strong roots. He began pulling them in and Ace helped by reeling in Luffy's arm. Michiru stopped and breathed in relief. About two seconds later she realised they were probably about a mile apart and her brothers hadn't a clue where she was, not that she did either.


End file.
